Home for Christmas
by Sailor Phoenix1997
Summary: Kaiba's in Europe and won't be able to get home for Christmas. How is Sara coping with all this? A one-shot Christmas present for all you wonderful readers.


**Phoenix: Merry Christmas! I just wanted to make this little one-shot for all of you wonderful readers. Remember, review and check out my poll on my profile page!  
This story is on a Christmas when Seto is in Europe for some business meetings and won't be able to come home in time for the holidays to be with his two brothers, his cousin, his cousin's girlfriend, his best friend and, of course, his dragon Kisara. How is she reacting to all this though?**

**Home For Christmas**

**By Sailor Phoenix1997**

Sara fiddled with the wire connecting the house phone to the receiver.  
"Seto, please. You sound like you've just been deported and I won't see you until Armageddon," the white-haired girl chuckled.  
_"I'm still sorry I won't be home in time. I hate the idea that-"  
_"Seto Kaiba, let's do a headcount here. We have your two brothers, your cousin and his girlfriend, our best friend and the dog. Tell me, how am I going to be alone this Christmas? And you'll be home on the 30th. We can celebrate Christmas then."  
_"Okay, okay. I understand." _Sara smiled as Noah walked up next to her. A loud noise came from the other line.  
"What was that?" Sara asked.  
_"Dang potholes."  
_"I'm going to hand you over to Noah, alright?" Still smiling, she handed the phone to Seto's look-alike brother before going off to Seto's office.  
Whenever asked about it, she'd just say that she was doing a little work for Seto's company while he was away so he could relax when he got home, but to be perfectly honest she just wanted to be in the place he spent the most time in around the house other than his bedroom. She'd told her fiancé that she'd be fine with his leaving for two weeks but to tell the truth, ever since he'd left her appetite had reduced itself to almost nothing, she could hardly sleep and most of her time was spent in his office alone, curled up in his desk chair just remembering.  
Sara locked the door behind her as she entered the room.  
She knew it wasn't necessary saying that Atem would only enter the room if there was an emergency and Mokuba and Noah were too busy being preteen boys to worry about what their soon-to-be-sister-in-law was up to in there.  
She sighed quietly as she turned to the desk and could almost see Seto behind the wood at his computer the way he would always act after one of their adventures: like nothing all that odd had happened and he was too busy living a normal life to really care about how much trauma he should be in. The only thing that would distract him from his work was his fiancé coming into the room. That was the best time after an adventure for Sara, the making-out. It was their little way of venting the remaining stress and fear of their previous adventures.  
As she neared the desk she ran her hand over the edge, which Seto had backed her against multiple times.  
She took a seat in the black leather chair and curled into a ball where Seto's lap normally would've been. The old leather was wrinkled and white cracks spider-webbed from the imprint Seto's body had made.  
Sara closed her eyes and let her senses as a dragon take over. Almost like coming out of a dream, she could smell Seto's scent in the old chair. It wrapped around her like a warm familiar blanket. She could smell the meals he'd eat in this very chair. The scent of file papers, old leather and packaging materials reminded her of the time she'd spend with her godfather when she was a small child and couldn't sleep while he was working.  
She could almost feel Seto's arms around her from the dozens of times they'd sat together while he worked and she'd just enjoy his company.  
A harsh knocking at the door pulled her out of her half-asleep state.  
"Sara! Open the door!" shouted a very familiar British voice.  
"Not now Bakura!" she replied. Instantly, she regretted it. Two clicks later, the white-haired boy stood leaning against the doorframe, glaring at her.  
"Sara, tomorrow is Christmas. You need to stop being so depressed and get into the spirit." The holder of the Ring scolded.  
"Yea, you're all set for the holidays," Sara said. Bakura looked down at his blue-and-white-striped shirt, jeans and black trench coat.  
"At least I'm not the one sitting around moping and starving myself to death just because my fiancé's overseas." Sara turned away from the boy and curled up again.  
"I'm just not hungry Bakura. Why don't you go check on Atem?"  
"He's at a movie with Téa. Mokuba and Noah are watching _It's a Wonderful Life _downstairs and they're planning to watch more Christmas movies after." Sara sighed and twirled a piece of her hair around her finger.  
"Good for them." With a sigh and a shake of the head, Bakura turned to leave.  
"He wouldn't want you to act like this. You were the one who said you'd be fine if he left for two weeks."  
"I didn't know it would feel like this." Bakura sighed and left.  
Sara stayed in the chair for a few more minutes before looking at the clock on the wall.  
"8:30." She sighed and stood up and left the room.  
Not a single person had entered Seto's room since he'd left, save for Sara. She'd been sleeping in his bed every night since he left. The first night had been an accident because she'd been so tired but after that, she just couldn't sleep unless she was in his bed, surrounded by things that reminded her of him.  
As she pulled on her nightgown she noticed a few minor changes that no one but she could've detected. Her ribs were starting to show beneath her skin  
She sighed and climbed into Seto's bed, Lady Angel, now one year old and the size of a Mastiff, leaped onto the bed with her mistress.  
"Hey girl," Sara whispered as she pulled the covers to her chin. The dog licked her face. "I know. I know. I should be happier that its Christmas tomorrow but I'm not. Seto won't be home until the day before New Year's Eve. I don't get it. It's only been a little over a week and yet this is happening to me." She sat up in the bed and hugged her knees. "He was gone for a whole month once and I was perfectly fine! What the heck is happening to me?!" she asked as she grabbed at her head and threw herself back into the pillows. Lady Angel just watched like this behavior was perfectly normal. "I mean, one month and I was perfectly fine when I was fourteen and yet at sixteen I'm practically falling apart without him here!"

* * *

Lady Angel snapped up, waking her mistress.  
"What's up girl?" Sara asked as she rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock. "It's ten till midnight girl. Do you need to go outside?" Sara pulled the blankets off and pulled on the black robe draped over the edge. "Come on girl."  
Sara opened the door and the dog silently bolted down the stairs.  
"What has gotten into you, you silly dog?" she chuckled. Her light laughing came to an abrupt end when Lady Angel came to a stop in front of the living room doorway, now with the room lit and flooding the hall. She instantly clapped her hands lightly, calling the dog back, or at least trying to without much success. "Lady!" The dog didn't listen, only inched closer to the door. "Lady come here!" Sara snapped. The dog slunk around the corner and vanished. Sara shook her head and sighed. "Maybe Mokuba and Noah fell asleep down there while they were watching something."  
She started down the stairs on tiptoe when the sharp tug of the Millennium Necklace. A sort of haze wrapped around her vision.  
_The staircase remained the same but now the edges of her vision were fuzzy. Sunlight was streaming in through the window and there was a distinct sound of cars riding into the driveway.  
"Mommy?" Sara turned around to see a tiny little girl with big blue eyes and shoulder-length, shiny brown curls wearing a white frilly nightgown with little blue bows along the hem and collar. She couldn't have been any older than four or five."Is Daddy home yet?" Sara felt herself smile and heard a laugh escape her lips.  
"No Anna, sweetheart. Daddy's still in Paris. But he'll be home tomorrow." Anna, the little girl, smiled a little.  
"Tomorrow… Tomorrow's not Christmas Mommy."  
"I know it's not sweetie. But if Daddy could be here, you could bet in a heartbeat he would be here. Now, let's go get ready to open the presents with your aunts, uncles and cousins okay?"_ _Anna smiled and took Sara's hand_.  
The pull of the Necklace came to an end and instead of a tiny warm hand, a cold wet doggie nose filled her palm. Lady Angel looked a little confused as her mistress snapped her hand back.  
"Sorry girl. Saw something." Sara turned down the stairs and continued on her way, fingering the Necklace around her throat.  
As she neared the doorframe, the tug came back again.  
_The entire hall was the same except for the sunlight and the little girl holding her hand, leading her into the room. Anna stopped in her tracks and Sara felt herself get low.  
"What's up sweetie?" The familiar bark of Lady Angel came from inside the room.  
"Daddy!" Anna cried as she released Sara's hand and raced into the room and leapt into the arms of a brunette man, who she seemed to have taken her looks from. He was dressed in a red coat, black shirt and jeans. On his hand was a gold wedding band.  
"Hey baby girl!" he said, picking her up and holding her over his head.  
"Mommy said you were in Paris."  
"Mommy said that?" The man looked right at Sara, and she somehow knew she was looking at an older version of Seto, this one more laid back than the one she was currently engaged to and much happier too. "Have I ever missed an important day Sara?" Sara felt herself smile again.  
"Nope. Never." She walked in and joined her tiny family as Lady Angel bounced around them barking, then running out of the room as the door opened.  
"Get this great beast off of me!" shouted a voice much like Bakura's voice but just a bit deeper, another sign that this was a future Christmas.  
"Bakura, please!" said an exasperated voice, her cousin Ishizu. And where Ishizu was her two brothers almost always followed.  
_Sara felt a tearful sting come to her eyes as the pull disappeared.  
"Any reason you're crying on Christmas Eve?" said a very familiar voice. Sara snapped up and sitting on the couch, pulling off his black leather gloves and his black coat draped over the furniture behind him, was her fiancé, Seto Kaiba.  
"Seto!" Sara said. She raced forward and threw her arms around his torso. "I thought you weren't going to be back until the 30th." Seto smiled and gently ran his fingers through his fiancé's long white hair.  
"Well, you've got your godfather to thank for my being here. He showed up at my hotel and told me to head home for Christmas. And by that clock up there…" Seto looked over at the clock on the mantel. "I still have about five minutes until Christmas."  
"Really? About Uncle Max, I mean." Seto nodded.  
"Of course. And one of the things I found out on the plane just before I called you was that just a few minutes before I left, the company went bust. I would've spent another six days away from the people I care about and invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in a complete waste." Seto kissed his fiancé's temple. "And what would the point of any of that misery be?" Sara nuzzled into Seto's chest and closed her eyes as more tears filled the blue orbs. She felt Seto's thumb wipe them away as they began to fall down her cheeks. "Sara, what's wrong?" His free hand fell to her ribs and pressed into the bones. "Is there any reason why you're thinner than when I left?" Sara pushed herself up and shook her head.  
"I don't know what you're talking about." Seto shook his head.  
"Sara, when I left you were twig-skinny and now, you're paper-thin. Care to give me an explanation as to why?" Sara shook her head again and Seto sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Alright Sara. Then explain to me this, while I was on the plane, just while I was landing, I got a call from Bakura saying that you were starving yourself and acting totally depressed."  
"I was not starving myself, I just haven't been hungry lately." Sara's eyes widened slightly. "Wait a minute. Does that mean I was talking to you while you were on the plane?" Seto nodded.  
"Wanted to surprise you."  
"Well, consider me surprised enough."  
"So here's the image I'm getting. I leave for eight days, you start starving – sorry - just not being hungry, and when I do come home, I see that you're crying upon my return like you haven't seen me in years and oddly enough you're in my robe which I know for a fact I did not leave in your room." Sara looked down at herself and bit her lip, mentally cursing herself.  
"Ooo, busted."  
"Oh big time." Sara bit her knuckle.  
"Oh gosh." Seto smirked and pulled his fiancé into his arms again.  
"Listen Sara, if you get like this anymore when I'm gone, don't be afraid to call me and tell me okay? No amount of business or press reputation is worth making you miserable, understood?" Sara nodded and cuddled deeper into Seto's embrace as the clock on the wall began to chime midnight and for the first time in eight long days, she fell asleep peacefully and without tears.  
After a while, Seto picked up his sleeping fiancé and brought her up to his room, setting her onto the bed as gently as he could before changing himself and climbing into the bed next to her.  
"Merry Christmas Sara," he whispered into her hair.

* * *

"Good Morning Domino City and Merry Christmas!" screamed the radio as it dove into a morning weather repot, promising at least six inches of snow. Sara's tired hand crawled from the blankets and shut off the radio.  
Slowly she stretched and opened her eyes as she felt the emptiness of the bed. She sat up and looked around. The room was empty of all life save for her. Seto's robe lay as still as if she'd never touched it. She lay back in the pillows and curled herself into a ball.  
"Stupid dreams! I can't believe I was so stupid to believe it was real," she said as she closed her eyes and prepared herself for another long day of barely any hunger and utter misery.  
After a few minutes some source of warmth pressed against her body, making her shiver.  
"Merry Christmas my little dragon," whispered a warm, soothing voice in her ear. Sara forced her eyes to stay closed.  
_"It's just a hallucination. Seto's still in Europe. I'm not seeing him until the 30th." _A warm arm wrapped around her and pulled her from the bed and into a familiar embrace against a firm chest. _"Please stop!"_ she begged her mind.  
"Come on Sara, Mokuba and Noah are already awake and Atem will be back any minute with Bakura and Téa. No one's going to be too happy with you if you sleep through Christmas." Slowly, Sara let her eyes open and meet with those of her fiancé. "There's those blue eyes I love," Seto said as he kissed her gently. Sara took note that his hair was damp, like he'd just come out of a shower and his skin was warmer than usual. Seto pulled away and she looked him over, taking notice he was dressed in nothing more than a towel that was wrapped around his waist.  
Instantly her face went red and she rolled back onto the bed.  
"Like what you see?" he asked teasingly. Sara's mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water and Seto chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes." Sara fanned her face as Seto pulled his robe on.  
"Do you have to do that to me?"  
"DO what? Make you think it was all a dream? Perhaps. After all, you did show me what I thought was going on around here." Sara glared.  
"And what does that mean?" Seto smiled and pulled his fiancé back into his embrace.  
"Look, I don't pretend to understand you, or women for that matter, but I do know that you've become what I want to keep around more than my own brothers. If you're unhappy with anything just tell me alright?" Sara nodded and Seto kissed her temple. "I love you Kisara Stone."  
"I love you too Seto Kaiba." Seto looked into her eyes and reached to the night table, pulling out a tiny piece of mistletoe and holding it over their heads. Sara looked at it and chuckled lightly as she ran her fingers through Seto's hair. "You are wonderful," she said.  
"Merry Christmas Sara," Seto whispered as his lips locked with hers.  
In that moment, Sara could've cared less if Mokuba and Noah, Atem, Bakura, Téa or even the media busted down the door, at least she was with the man she loved for Christmas.  
The vision about the future Christmas could wait for another day.

* * *

**Phoenix: Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you loved reading this as much as I loved writing it! Remember, review, check out my poll, vote! Do you like this story? Review below. Did you like how I made character interaction? Review below! Do you have a green dog named Memphis who loves to chase her tail? What the heck, review below!**


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